5: On striking public sector workers: “I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families. I mean, how dare they go on strike when they have these gilt-edged pensions that are going to be guaranteed, while the rest of us have to work for a living?”

6: To co-host Richard Hammond as they watched an Asian man walking across a bridge: “That is a proud moment… but there’s a slope on it.”

7: On coverage of his Top Gear suspension: “Sorry Ed (Miliband). It seems I knocked your “I’m a human” piece down the news agenda.”

8: On winding people up: “It’s amazing how easily people are upset. When I said a car snapped knicker elastic at 50 paces, I couldn’t believe the furore.”

9: On revelations about his private life: “I’m surprised to find that I’m the new Tiger Woods.”

10. On the risks of cycling: “I am about to embark on my longest ever trans-London bike ride. Almost certainly I shall be killed.”